Last night me and a companion had the pleasure of seeing England's Brave Boys© play and beat the Hungarians. Any football fan needs no introduction to the heritage to Hungarian football, which created a team which punished England mightily many years ago. Many see their ultimate failure to win the World Cup as a footballing travesty and I personally feel that they deserve the unwanted title of best team never to have won the World Cup, beating the efforts of the Dutch 74 and Brazilian 82 outfits. They can of course never hope to live up to that amazing heritage, a nation the size of Hungary will mightily struggle to produce a team like that again.
Still they played well, giving England a good game. Certainly for a pre-season friendly the quality was pretty good. a treat for the 70,000 or so people who turned up to see it.
I was disappointed by the squad choices. The 'Golden Generation' for its successes and faults has come to an end. These players, these household names; Gerrard, Lampard, Terry and Ferdinand will not be at the next world cup in Brazil. Age and injuries will not allow it. Old hopes will have to be carried by new players. Unfortunately with Capello's contract not reaching to the next World Cup he has no reason to dispense with old and take proper risks to blood the new players. The press would have slaughtered him if he had lost. Fundamentally this raises the question, why have an international manager who wont be going to the next world cup? Logic would suggest that Capello will make do with what he has, getting adequate performances out of the players to ensure his survival and qualification to the Euros. Why put this on the line by player Wilshire and Rodwell then?
The FA's plan should revolve around the WC, players and management should reflect this.
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